A crowd of more than 300 nearly filled a large conference room at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido Thursday night to once again tell a governmental agency what they think about the proposed Gregory Canyon landfill.

Like more than a dozen meetings before, opponents of the landfill outnumbered supporters by at least a 3 to 1 ratio. The speeches were impassioned and the warnings of disaster numerous.

The agency listening this time to the public comment about a trash dump proposed to be built near Pala was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which controls one of the numerous permits the private developers of the project need before construction can begin.

The corps released a draft environmental-impact study about the landfill late last year and the public has until April 15 to comment in writing. Everything said Thursday night and all written comments will then be reviewed by the corps which should make a final decision whether to issue a permit later this year although corps officials refused to give a date.

Many of the opponents wore T-shirts, given out free before the meeting, depicting a pile of trash with a straw poking out from the top. “WATER AND TRASH DON’T MIX,” read a message above the altered photo.

The meeting, which was ended by the corps after three and a half hours even though a number of people had yet to speak, offered common themes.

The developers, Gregory Canyon Ltd., insisted they have designed a state-of-the-art landfill that is environmentally safe and needed for the disposal of North County trash. After nearly 20 years of studies it is time to let the project move forward, they said.

“After nearly two decades there has been no legitimate argument that the landfill will not protect water quality” said Jim Simmons, project manager for Gregory Canyon Ltd.

Opponents, who include the Pala Band of Mission Indians and a coalition of environmental groups, say there is no such thing as a dump that won’t one day leak pollutants into the ground. There is no place worse to build a dump, they said, because it would be located near the San Luis Rey River which is an important source of water for the county. And, they said, a new landfill isn’t even needed.

There was also a great deal of talk about how the dump would be located next to Gregory Mountain which is considered sacred by Indian people. The Pala tribe has spent $6 million over the years fighting the landfill plans. It’s reservation abuts the property where the dump would be built roughly three miles east of Interstate 15 and just south of state Route 76. It’s location, several speakers said, is another slap in the face, the latest indignity, inflicted upon Native American people.

“This unnecessary project is a perfect illustration of how Native Americans have been the victims of cultural and environmental injustice at the hands of both government and private interests,” said Anthony Pico, chairman of the Viejas tribe. He said the landfill site was chosen because the developers thought the Pala tribe would put up little resistance.

But gaming revenues changed that, and it has been the Pala tribe that has funded the opposition and has sworn to keep fighting the plans forever.

Pala Chairman Robert Smith called the landfill “a terrible and unnecessary project.”

Simmons and others representing the developers said all the studies indicate that measures can be taken to protect the cultural sites near the landfill.

“We will protect the sacred sites,” Simmons said. “We will be a good neighbors.

The developers have also pointed out that the cultural significance of the mountain was not a strong talking point by opponents until after the courts made numerous rulings that suggested the environmental arguments will not prevent the landfill’s construction.

Shasta Gaughen, the Pala tribe’s environmental director, scoffed at the notion that cultural sites would be saved.

“There are no exclusion zones that can protect the mountain from desecration,” she said. “It is sacred from the bottom to the top.”

The crowd was loud at times, wildly cheering some speakers and booing when others talked.

The loudest chorus of boos followed a short speech by Ken Lounsbery, a lawyer who successfully represented the county recently against a lawsuit that challenged environmental findings made years earlier.

Lounsbery said opponents in attendance last night were examples of “NIMBYISM on steroids,” and urged the corps to approve the project.

Numerous local politicians weighed in on various sides. County Supervisor Bill Horn encouraged the corps to approved the permit while Supervisor Dave Roberts strongly opposed it.